Merry Christmas, Zander
by ZevieObsessed2014
Summary: Happy Zevie Month! Zander and Stevie have always fought over white lights and colored lights ever since that year they got locked in the mall. Now it's 13 years later, they're married with a family and the feud continues (each year)... well, a surrender from Zander comes with a pretty surprising Christmas gift. Rated K. One-shot.


**A/N: I thought I would bring back the beloved White Lights vs. Colored Lights debate that Zander and Stevie had in How to Rock Christmas :)**

**HAPPY ZEVIE MONTH! :D**

**STEVIE's POV**

"_White lights? That's just wrong," Zander said, peering up at the white lights I'd put on the Christmas tree. I frowned a bit—what was wrong with white lights? My family always used them every single year! "Multicolored lights are way cooler."_

"_Since when?" I ask incredulously, narrowing my eyes at my best friend. Zander and I always agreed on things, but this was one of the very few things we _didn't_ agree on. _

"_Since the invention of color," he retorts. He wanted to give me attitude? I could easily give it right back. _

"_White Christmas, Zander—"_

"—_White Christmas?"_

"—_Yes! It's classy, okay?" _

"—_Classy? Oh, what are you trying to say?" _

Well, that was thirteen years ago when all Gravity 5 and the Perfs got locked into the mall. Zander and I got over that argument, but every Christmas the same argument comes back, and _every_ year I'm outnumbered—our daughter agrees the white lights are pretty but our two sons think that the color lights are cool.

And so every year, Zander gets his multicolor-lit tree. Here we are again though, arguing over what color the lights on the tree will be this year. I'm determined not to let Zander win this year, no matter how much I love him.

**ZANDER's POV**

"_What do you think you're doing?" _

"_Oh, hey, Steves. Just putting the lights up on the tree, what do you—"_

"—_But they're colored…" she trailed off, her eyebrows raised. Stevie looked at me expectantly and I looked back at her, utterly confused. She sighed and said, "I wanted to put up the white lights…" _

"_Oh, not this again," I groaned, "I've already got half the tree down, Steves. Are you really going to make me take the lights down?" _

"_Well, could you?" she asked me. I frowned. _

"_Stevie, come on, you know I liked the multicolored lights!" I try, moving to finish putting the lights around the Christmas tree. "Besides, I don't feel like taking them down. The white lights are so boring!" _

"_You know I like them though," Stevie said with a small, childlike pout forming on her lips. I turned my attention away from her—that pout of hers worked sometimes, and I didn't want it to work this time, "If you won't take down your lights and put up the white ones, then I'll do it." _

"_Stevie, you're eight months pregnant, I'm not letting you up on this ladder," I said as I continued wrapping the colored lights around the tree. "Next year you can put up your lights, okay?" I said absently, not exactly meaning it. She sighed and gave up and went back to the couch across the room where she had been napping several minutes before. _

That was eight years ago. I was 22 and Stevie was 21, and we'd just moved into our very first house. We had been married almost two years then. Every Christmas we spent together since that year we got locked into the mall, we argued about the lights on the tree. This year is no exception.

"Stevie, the last thing I need right now is you falling off that ladder," I say impatiently, wrapping my arms around her waist. I try to pull her off the ladder but her feet are grounded to the third to last step and she's not moving off of it.

"You can't even put the lights up right now anyway! The kids aren't home yet, that wouldn't be fair," I try to convince her.

She sighs. "I'm not that far along, Zander. Only a few months, and besides, you've gotten to do your colored lights every year we've been together! Why can't I do my white lights?" she pouts as I manage to pull her off the ladder and put her on the ground.

"The kids will be home any minute, we'll decide then, okay?" I ask her. She sighs heavily and mumbles under her breath, but moves into the kitchen to finish making the dinner. It's Christmas Eve, and the tradition we started after that Christmas we got stuck in the mall is that every year we wait until Christmas Eve to pick the lights that will go on the tree—somehow every year Stevie's let me have my lights.

I don't know if she secretly likes the colored lights—it's possible, she's too stubborn to say it though—or if she just gives in. Either way, I'm getting my colored lights on the tree this year (again).

**STEVIE's POV**

Zander walks into the kitchen and wraps his arms around my waist from behind and says, "Only a few more minutes until the kids are home. And no matter what they choose, you're not getting up on that ladder again, do you hear me?"

"Zander," I sigh, annoyed, "I'm only five months along, I would be fine on the ladder. And I don't trust you anyway. If they _do_ pick white lights this year—"

"—Which they won't," he teases, laughing quietly into my ear.

I ignore him, "—you'll go up on the ladder with the white lights and somehow get colored lights on that tree! I don't trust you," I say stubbornly.

The front door opens and a chorus of, "_Mommy, daddy, we're home!_" sounds from the living room. The front door closes behind them and they pull off their coats and hang them over the banister on the way up the stairs to their rooms.

I call them back down several minutes later—after they've gotten into their pajamas and warmed-up from walking home from the bus stop. They know what time it is, and I can already see it in their minds—they're going to ask for the colored lights.

Zander sits them down on the couch and we take the arm chairs across from them. Zander gives me a smug look—he already knows he's going to win this. He looks to our oldest child, Lucas and says, "What lights do you want on the tree this year, Luke?"

"You already know what colors I want, Dad," and there it is. "Colors". Zander gives Lucas a single nod and smiles. Zander 2, Stevie 1.

"Okay, now it's Zachary's turn," Zander says, shooting me another knowing look. I scowl at my husband and lean back in the chair, absently holding my stomach. Part of me wishes our fourth child was here and old enough to have a vote—maybe white lights would win for once.

Lucas is the oldest child (he's 8), Zachary is the second youngest (he's 7), and then there's Lauren (she's 5). We don't know anything about the fourth child yet, but I have a strong feeling it will be another boy—one that in a few years' time will pick Zander's colored lights and I will continue to loose.

"Well, we did colored lights last year," Zach says, looking between his father and myself. I sit up a little straighter—is Zach going to pick white lights for once?

"….I wanna do colored lights again," he says happily, smiling back at Zander who's relieved his second son chose what he thought he was going to choose. I sigh and slouch back into my seat—it's going to be another year of colored lights…

**ZANDER's POV**

"That's a good boy, Zach," I say proudly, smiling over at Stevie who glares back at me. I'm not trying to be mean to her, I just simply enjoy the reactions she gives me. Stevie's always been a ball of fire, it's pretty humorous.

"And now for my baby girl Lauren," I say as I turn back to the kids. Lauren looks exactly like her mother and I love it. Zach looks more like Stevie too, but he and Lucas share my personality most definitely. Lauren has one of her own. Lucas looks more like me though, and Stevie's always wanted one of our kids to look like me.

It makes me wonder what the fourth will look like—will he or she look more like Stevie or me?

Lauren twiddles her little thumbs before she hops off the couch and walks up to Stevie. Stevie leans forward in her seat as Lauren motions for her to do so and then proceeds to whisper something in her mother's ear. Stevie's lips quirk into a little smile and she whispers something back.

Lauren watches Stevie for a minute before walking up to me.

"Have you decided, baby girl?" I ask her, shooting Stevie one more look. I'm a bit puzzled though, because Stevie looks confident about this one. Whatever Lauren's thinking… I have a hunch it's about to complicate this whole thing.

She motions for me to lean down and so I do and then she whispers into my ear, "I think you should let mommy win this year."

I look at Lauren a little surprised and he motions for me to lean down again. I do.

"Why's that?" I ask her.

"Mommy says she has a big surprise for you later on, and that's why you should," Lauren whispers. She gives me her best puppy eyes and I cave.

"Okay, baby girl. I'll let mommy win, but just this year, okay?"

Lauren nods at me, grinning, and I sit up straight in my chair and say, "Alright, for this year only, I'll let mommy have her white lights."

Stevie looks completely surprised and I'm guessing whatever Lauren told her wasn't the same thing she told me—or maybe she's faking it.

"Don't look so surprised," I laugh at my wife, and she rolls her eyes playfully before carefully getting up out of her chair and going back to the kitchen, "Alright, kiddos. Help me put the lights up and then it's dinnertime, and afterwards you're gonna get into bed and go to sleep okay?"

"Aw, but daddy!" the kids whine, clinging onto the bottom of my shirt.

I shake my head, "No, no. You know Santa Claus doesn't come if you're awake!"

All three of them, one by one, their eyes grow wide like saucers and they run to get the white lights out of the closet under the stairs. We spend the next couple of minutes putting Stevie's lights up on the trees and then dinner is ready.

After the kids, Stevie and I finish eating, Stevie whisks them off to their rooms upstairs and we put each of them to bed. We wait at least two hours to make sure they're really asleep, and that's when Stevie says, "I know it's not Christmas yet, but I've got something for you."

"It can't wait?" I ask her curiously. She shakes her head.

"Well, it can, but I don't want to wait."

"Okay, well, what is it?"

"Wait here," she says simply, getting off the bed and leaving the room. She walks quietly down the hall and down the stairs so as not to wake the children. I wait patiently, staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

What is that she can't wait to give me?

About five minutes later, she comes back into the bedroom and I notice she doesn't have anything with her, just a small manila envelope. I sit up and rest my weight on my arms and look at her curiously.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Open it," she says, handing it to me eagerly.

I raise an eyebrow at her, but lift the envelope flap and pull out the contents inside. It's an ultrasound result. I look at Stevie even more confused now, and she sighs and rolls her eyes impatiently.

"Zander, you've seen three of these already, come on," she says, moving the scan close to me. I look at it closer and eventually give up.

"What am I looking at, Stevie?" I ask confused, handing her the scan back.

"…remember that day that you couldn't make it to the appointment with me?" she asks calmly, waiting for my response. I nod my head.

"Well… we thought it was _just one_. It's not," she says, her smile growing a little bit. I look at her blankly, and she sighs, "Zander, we're having twins!" She takes her pillow and whacks me across the face and suddenly what she's saying clicks.

I feel like I've been winded—we're having twins! I guess I don't make any reaction though, because Stevie's looking at me worriedly now.

"You're not excited," she says flatly, frowning. She bites her lower lip and turns away from me.

I launch into a sitting position and grab her before she moves off the bed, and she turns to look at me and that's when I kiss her. It's slow and happy and it takes her by surprise because for a moment, she doesn't respond.

When I pull away I say, "No, Stevie. I'm really happy for us! I'm just surprised… when we found out you were pregnant again… I wasn't expecting to have a fourth child. That was shock… but now that we're having a fourth and a fifth—I'm really happy, I just wasn't expecting…" I trail off and shut up. I sound like an idiot, but she smiles and I know she understand.

"Trust me, Zander, when I found out, I wasn't expecting it either… but I'm really glad you're happy for us. That makes me feel so much better," she says softly, wrapping her arms around my neck. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her closer to me, and within several minutes she's fast asleep.

I can't sleep though. We're having twins! It's definitely not the sort of gift I was expecting. It makes me a little curious though… how did Lauren know Stevie had a "gift" for me? Stevie even looked confused…

I guess I would have to ask her in the morning—that is, if she's not too busy with her Christmas gifts.

**A/N: So yeah.. that was probably totally expected, but I had fun writing this for Zevie month anyway! Let me know what you thought, loves and hopefully I'll update SLY Tuesday, after my surgery this Monday (getting my wisdom teeth out *frowns*)\**


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